There was a horrible tragedy in our old ward last week. On Sunday morning, I was awakened by Mom coming home and telling me she had terrible news. A young man in our old ward had been in an accident that wasn't that bad, until he got out of the car to check the damage and another car hit into the back of the first car that had hit him. I didn't know Josh that well. What I did know, was that I was so impressed, the few interactions that we had, with the spirit about him. He knew who he was, he knew the Church was true, and you could see that eminating from him. He passed away on Sunday. His family donated his organs, which is the best gift that can be given. I'm so grateful all of the time for the family that chose to donate a heart to Grandpa Ross. I definitely think it's so much easier being on the side of receiving rather than donating. Josh's little sisters were in my primary class, and I just love them so much! They talked about him often in class and couldn't wait for the day until he came home from his mission. He came home in August, and was able to confirm them each as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. What a great blessing! My heart has broken for those two little girls, and their big sisters, brother, and parents. Upon hearing the news, I immediately wanted to go hug them, but waited a day until I did. I was nervous of what to say, but I was so grateful I had gone. I was truly honored to be asked to play the piano for the funeral. I picked out many songs that I felt prompted to, and I loved being able to share that with the many people who love Josh. For not knowing him very well, other than right when he got home and a few chats on facebook, I bawled so hard. I could barely make it through the opening hymn, Called to Serve. I was grateful to be able to accompany his sisters doing their musical numbers, as well. My heart goes out to them, and I hope they know that they can depend on me whenever they need me, they're such a great family!

Tonight we went to Celine Dion. I bought tickets for Mom for her Christmas present 2007. The concert was supposed to be on Nov. 21, 2008, which happens to be Mom and Dad's wedding anniversary. I thought that would be a great way to spend that evening. Well, about four days before the concert they sent out an e-mail saying that the show had been postponed to today. I was bugged by that because today is Sunday, and that was a special day for Mom. I have been bothered by the whole Sunday issue, but I had spent about $160 on these tickets. So, we went. It was amazing! The opening act wasn't so wonderful. It was a comedian that works the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. He was quite talented, but there were some pretty bad things that he said. However, Celine Dion was amazing! I feel like a total dork saying that, but she is so talented. Her range and her breath control, I just can't believe it. Anyways~ other than some really strange choreography and dancers and a couple of facial expressions, it was totally cool! She had seven costume changes and they were stunning. My most favorite part of any conert is the way the lights are progammed and how cool the stage and layout is. I've been to a lot of concerts and have never seen a stage like this one. Everything moved! There was a moving sidewalk around the entire stage. The stage was in the center of the court, a giant square and then had two walkouts with circular stages. It was so great!

Kindness and Blessings...

Well, the last few weeks have been busy, crazy, trying, and fun. On January 28th, our stake had Sis. Julie Beck up for our stake enrichment meeting. I was so excited! As we pulled into the parking lot, Apple Village called and told us Grandma was non-responsive, and her blood pressure was extremely low. Mom told me to stay with Amy and Roz, and she'd just go, but I didn't. We took Amy's van and sped over, glad we were pretty much across the highway from her. So, after seeing how she was, we called the paramedics and spent the next 9 hours in the emergency room. All of her tests came back fine, but she wasn't fine. So, they took her in and did this nuclear test that takes about 45 minutes, with her being in a tube the whole time. It ended up that she has multiple blood clots in her lungs. The ER doctor was going to admit her, and at about 12:30 a.m., said a doctor needed to talk to us first. This "hospitalist" guy came in and was pretty tense and defensive and told us either he would treat her, and she'd probably end up falling and bleed to death internally (she falls a big fall every couple of weeks, so...), or he wouldn't treat her, and she'll eventually die from the pulmonary embolisms at anytime. That's a lot of pressure to have to choose at an instant, to have to decide whether or not your going to let your mom die from something has got to be the hardest decision for someone. Mom shouldn't have to make decisions like that. It ended up that we decided not to treat it, and instead have hospice coming in to "make her comfortable." Such a hard decision!

Once we got her back to Apple Village, she just got right back into her regular routine! We were so grateful for this. It made it so we could go to St. George the next week. Mom had a music conference that she HAD to be to, for the credit, to renew her license. We were going to go on Wednesday, the 4th, so we could go play in Las Vegas, and I could go to the World Market Design Center (which I still need to do!!!) Mom started to get pretty sick on Tuesday, and by Wednesday, she was pretty much a disaster, and I was pretty sick too, so I made an executive decision, and we didn't go until Thursday, so we could rest a bit. While we were down there, I had a great time playing with Porter, Rhett, Bergen, Jason, Daisy (the calf in the backyard, that I actually fed), and ALee. ALee and I got to go shopping and look for accessories for her beautiful house, which was so fun! Mom, however, was sicker than I've ever seen her, and sicker than she remembers ever being. She did her classes, and the rest the time she sat in the lazyboy. Jason and the boys built her fires in the fireplace, because she was freezing the entire time. We did get to go to a movie, New in Town, which ended up being quite funny. Renee Zellweger and Harry Conick, Jr. are an odd couple, but it was still fun! We didn't sleep much, the whole time, and the first night, I'd gone into the bonus room around 2:00, because I couldn't sleep. I just laid down on the futon, with it still up like a sofa, because I couldn't figure out how that worked. I was tired! Anyways~ I shifted my position at some point and the futon threw me out and then flipped on top of me. I thought I broke my shoulder, but at that time of night, everything's horrendous! After that, I used it like a bed, because it was then laying out! DUH!!! On Sunday, Mom was so sick, Jason gave her a blessing and we left. She seemed better during the ride, but by the time we got home, she was worse again! So, Collin came over and gave her a blessing, as well. The priesthood is such an amazing thing! Well, Monday we got her to the doctor, and she has pneumonia, the flu, and two ear infections. What a mess! She has been home all week, which she's never done before!

I called Collin to tell him the prognosis, and he talked about it with Ryan, who is in our old ward. Ryan called me later that day, and told me he'd called the relief society president in Hobbs Creek, because he didn't know who to call from our ward. Right after that, a member of our relief society presidency in the 28th ward called to check on her. I'd assumed that Laralee, from HC, had called our ward, but she hadn't. Anyways, people have just randomly dropped over dinners. We're so grateful for them. It's not that I can't cook, because I have been, but it's been so nice. The guy across the street let me borrow his snowblower, during the huge storm on Monday, and then Brandon did it the next day. We'd gotten a warning about our sidewalks not being clean in front of the house and north of us, but the two houses up were vacant. Anyways~ someone did that for us yesterday. Today, someone did our driveway, again. Then this evening, I was sitting on the couch and heard some noise outside. A couple of young men from our ward, one of the leaders, and his son that is in my primary class were shoveling our mountain, that was covering the stairs. They then gave us each a valentine, and a red rose! How cute!

Today is Collin's birthday, and we went to the Draper Temple open house. It was beautiful! What a great experience for kids. As we were walking out, I asked Ford what he thought, and he said, "That was so fun!!!! and so beautiful!!!!!" Then we went to lunch with Grandma and Grandpa. Fun day!

New Temple Night!!!

Nicholes' temple night at Jordan River on March 12th. Meet at 6:30, in the chapel. I promise I won't cancel, again!